It's funny – in the last few days about a half-dozen people have kindly sent me the link on YouTube to that 1953 film about Lorain entitled LORAIN– An Industrial Empire in Ohio's Vacation Land. It's the same film that was shown at the Charleston Coffee House a few times back in February.
It's a great little film that's both fun to watch, and ultimately depressing – because you know those days are never coming back. I suppose I'm lucky I was born in 1959 and was able to catch the tail-end of Lorain's glory days.
I owned a copy of this video a few years ago, but loaned it to someone and it disappeared after that. So it's great to see it on YouTube.
Anyways, there's plenty of great things to see in the video if you pay attention.
Like this color shot (below) of Lorain's long-gone Civil War soldiers monument (which I wrote about many times, including here).
How about this gaudy neon sign for Lorain's iconic Castle on the Lake restaurant?
Here's a shot of a motel that shared its name with a famous chain: Holiday Inn Motel (below). It was located on Route 6 between Lorain and Vermilion at Stop 120 – which I think puts it between Baumhart Road and Sunnyside. I love that huge candle-shaped sign.
And of course, here's Lorain's Easter Basket decked out in an unusual color scheme (hope you made it down there for a photo this past Easter weekend!)
Anyway, in case there are some of you that have missed the video so far, here it is. There's a cute but rather long introductory sequence before the actual film begins.
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I mentioned above that the Holiday Inn Motel was on Route 6 between Lorain and Vermilion. I kind of suspect that it was this place (below) that is just west of Baumhart on the south side of the street. Anybody know for sure?
